


Flame Alchemy

by letsgooutintherain



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-24
Updated: 2015-06-24
Packaged: 2018-04-05 23:01:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4198362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/letsgooutintherain/pseuds/letsgooutintherain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roy and Ed discuss flame alchemy. It doesn't go as either of them imagined.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Flame Alchemy

"I'll be the last flame alchemist. I made sure of that." Roy's gaze was dark.

"Someone else could develop it again," Edward said, without looking up. He felt vaguely ill.

"Yeah, probably, but the chances are slim and it wouldn't be my fault. I... Ed?" Roy sounded unsure, "What's the matter?" 

Of course the bastard had to look right past his mask, even if said mask was for his own good. Now there was nothing to it, Roy wouldn't let this go, no matter what. 

"I'm sorry." Ed looked up reluctantly, "You should probably conceal your array." Roy had a mask firmly in place, but Ed could still see the shock behind it.

"How?" Roy finally asked, voice controlled. "Why?" 

"Back when we had just entered the military, Al and I figured, that we might have to fight you at one point or the other, so we started to researched. Of course there was nothing to be found. Logic dictated that it wasn't the fire you controlled, but the gas in the air." Ed shrugged, looking unhappy, "From then on it was only a matter of time till we found material on gas alchemy. Some alchemist used it for mine ventilation, another one had theories for medical purpose..."

Roy looked torn between being horrified and impressed.

Ed hurried on: "We had your array to go from and then all that was left was piecing it together and patching up some holes. We never told anyone. It's not even completely thought through, all we needed to know was how to counter it. It's far from your level of precision, we had more important things on our minds at the time." 

It was absurd to feel guilty about this. In hindsight it might have been unnecessary, there was no way Roy would have fought them, no way he would have betrayed their trust, but back then they hadn't known that. And they hadn't thought of it as a means of destruction on a scale far higher than anything ever had a right to be. It was just another form of alchemy. Meant to be used for the people.

Ed straightened his spine and glared defiantly at Roy, who had slumped down in his chair.

"Leave it to you two to take a glimpse at a lifetime of research and redevelop it in what? Two years? Three?" Roy said wryly.

"A few month give or take, yes." Ed shrugged and didn't add, that it hadn't been their priority, if it had, it would have taken much less. But the stone had been the only thing on their minds back then. 

"Show me," Roy demanded.

"What? Here?" Edward replied, "You did listen when I told you we never reached your precision, didn't you?"

"Yes here. If it makes you feel better I'll make sure you don't set anything on fire."

"On your head it be," Ed shrugged before picturing the array in his mind, slightly altered to the one Roy used due to the lack of information they had worked with. Then he clapped, feeling alchemy prickle under his flesh hand and concentrated to rearrange the concentration of oxygen within the room.

The fire in the hearth jumped along the path he had formed, a blinding white arc, painting the room in harsh grey and white before balling together in something akin to a small sphere of fire, levitating in the air.

Ed concentrated on the transmutation, forcing the oxygen into the sphere, while surrounding it with non-inflammable gas.

The sphere wobbled, too many parts to concentrate on at once. Ed gritted his teeth to force it back into form, but then Roy moved in the corner of his eye and his concentration wavered, gas mixed and the fireball expanded. Ed felt his control slipping. 

The next second the gas rushed back into a perfect sphere. Ed looked to Roy, who slowly lowered his gloved hand. 

"I'd advise you to not use that one again without a lot more practice," Roy said dryly. 

"You don't say," Ed replied, "Normally Al would be with me if I tried something like this. And yes it's dangerous, but we liked the idea. It's like a torch only brighter. Once we tried cooking with it. We turned the meal to charcoal in less then a minute. A campfire is so much easier to control than this.

"And besides, we were more interested in stopping your flames anyway." Ed clapped again, drawing all the oxygen away from Roy's sphere and the fireplace. The flames died down instantly. Ed grinned. "See. Works without problems."

A crooked smile spread on Roy's lips, the first since this damned conversation had started. There was a snap and a thin line of fire, much cleaner than Ed's had been and the fire roared back to life, filling the room once again with the calm crackle of flames. 

"Show-off," Ed muttered.

The smile grew, but then fell again, making room for a serious expression.

"I would have wanted for this to be forgotten when I die," Roy said, "As it is, I'm glad that it is you. I wouldn't trust anyone else with this."

**Author's Note:**

> For Roy/Ed week day 5. Prompt: alchemy  
> All mistakes are my own.


End file.
